Mette Frederiksen
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The Tribalisation of Denmark A thematic study on the political narrative of Mette Frederiksen The Faculties of Humanities and Theology Centre for Languages and Literature Master of Arts in European Studies Author: Line Lund Hebbelstrup Supervisor: Eleonora Narvselius Submitted: September 7, 2020 Word count: 19.933 consisting of 124.544 characters Acknowledgements Almost a year ago the newly elected Prime Minister of Denmark used the term ‘wack’ or ‘gak’ as it is in Danish when she elaborated her thoughts on the European Union – and especially the European Commission. Throughout this year I have studied political speeches, EU-budgets, political tendencies and I have discussed as much. Therefore, I would like to dedicate room to express my gratitude towards Lund University for educating my perspectives and perception of the world. Furthermore, would I like to thank Rasmus Nordqvist for offering a playground, in which I have learned more than any book has ever taught me. Thank you, for the many political battles, we have fought; the ones we won but also the ones that we did not. Lastly, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my friends and family. You have listened, discussed, read, encouraged and advised me. Your guidance and support have been essential. However, the greatest gratitude goes to you, Morten. I am very lucky to have you. Line Lund Hebbelstrup, Copenhagen, September 4, 2020 2 Abstract This thesis seeks to understand the narrative presented by Mette Frederiksen in an interview published in Jyllands-Posten on October 16, 2019 bearing the header The EU-cooperation is disconnected from the world, we are a part of through interpretations from relevant experts. In order to extract what can be learned about the Danish future relation to the EU, the thesis examines how four Members of the Danish Parliament and Marlene Wind, a professor from University of Copenhagen, interpreted the narrative of the Danish Prime Minister. The politicians represent the Social Democratic Party, Venstre – the Liberal Party, the Conservative People’s Party and The Alternative, thus the governmental party is represented as well as both sides of the political spectrum. They all hold the position as EU-spokesperson and enjoy a seat in the European Affairs Committee in the Parliament. The study seeks to answer how the five experts have interpreted Mette Frederiksen’s narrative and how they understand the future relation between Denmark and the EU from the narrative. The study builds on an epistemological perspective within qualitative methodology, as presented by Steiner Kvale and Alexander Bogner and Wolfgang Menz. The thematic analysis have been constructed by tribalist theory as it is presented by Marlene Wind; intergovernmentalist theory as outlaid by Stanley Hoffmann and Andrew Moravcisk and lastly the findings have been discussed on the foundation of Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on truths in the realm of politics. According to the interpretations expressed by the experts in combination with the chosen theory the thesis reveals, that there are certain signs, which points towards that the future Danish relation to the EU is characterised by an intergovernmentalistic future with inhabited tribalistic tendencies. Keywords: Denmark, European Union, Tribalism, European Integration, Truth and Politics, Social Democratic Party 3 Table of contents 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Context and Structure ................................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Research Questions ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Research Object: The Interview ............................................................................................................................................. 9 1.4 Previous Research ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.0 Background .................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 The Context .................................................................................................................................................................................. 14 2.2 The Social Democratic Party ............................................................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Mette Frederiksen ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 2.4 Historical context ...................................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.0 Theory ............................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.1 Tribalism ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Truths and Politics .................................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.3 European Integration.............................................................................................................................................................. 25 3.3.1 Intergovernmentalism ...................................................................................................................................................... 25 4.0 Methodology and Sources ............................................................................................................................ 27 4.1 Methodological Framework ................................................................................................................................................. 27 4.1.1 Research design ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 4.2 Conducting interviews ............................................................................................................................................................ 29 4.2.1 Expert Interviews .............................................................................................................................................................. 29 4.3 Sources ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 4.3.1 Marlene Wind, PhD, EURECO Professor, University of Copenhagen.................................................... 32 4.3.3 Katarina Ammitzbøll, MP, EU-spokesperson, The Conservative People’s Party ............................ 33 4.3.4 Rasmus Nordqvist, MP, EU-spokesperson, The Alternative ..................................................................... 33 4.3.5 Jens Joel, MP, EU-spokesperson, The Social Democratic Party ............................................................... 33 4.4 Limitations ................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 5.0 Findings and Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 36 5.1 Defining the Tribe ..................................................................................................................................................................... 37 5.2 Strong Institutions and Democracy .................................................................................................................................. 40 5.3 Protecting the Tribe ................................................................................................................................................................. 43 5.4 Future Perspectives .................................................................................................................................................................. 45 5.5 Subconclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................. 49 6.0 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................... 51 6.1 Evaluation and Limitations .................................................................................................................................................. 57 7.0 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 59 8.0 Bibliography 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